What unusual things do you grow?

Little_Miss_Determined

As I treat, I bought this months Kitchen Garden magazine. There is an aticle in it about how gardeners tend to grow the same things and yet there are many other easy to grow and delicious things out there.

They mention Asparagus peas, Kohl rabi, globe artichokes, hamburg parsley, sunflowers for the seeds and a few other things. I think that growing more unusual crops sounds great but I've not so far because A) I didn't know a lot of them existed and I wouldn't know what to do with them once they have grown.

So, does anyone out there grow anything that is a bit unusual? If you do, what do you do with it once it's grown?

misskool

tomatillos, perfect salsa all the time!

lostinrates

I have globe artichokes, they are moving at the weekend. I grow them in the border because they are beautiful and structural. That we eat them is a bonus...DH loves them. we also have a caci tree. Its the sole survivor of three, and its VERY wee, I doubt I'll ever get fruit. Its hard to know what ''unusual'' is because I think often we Brits are a bit conservative about veg. I'd like to try cardoons, mainly because I've never eaten them. And fiddleheads, for the same reason. But I don't think things like mulberries are unusual...yet quite uncommon these days

Furny

I'm having a go at Kohl Rabbi this year in a container after following a thread on here about it & I'm hopefully going to get to try it!. Got the seeds from Lidl for 29p so not much is lost if they aren't successful.
However my gardening neighbour (very experienced & has worked in nurseries for many years) commented
" You'll have just about cracked this gardening lark if you grow one of them ok", didn't leave me with much confidence!:rotfl:

misskool

celeriac, I've not grown them to a proper size yet but I garden in hope

Rummer

I am growing globe artichoke, black kale and romanescu this year as I thought I would try some new things, fingers crossed!

Little_Miss_Determined

Oooh! Some good ideas already :j.

I think you're right lostinrates. I know I have been guilty of being conservative. I think it's because I'm more confident cooking what I grew up with and supermarkets tend to stock the same things. I try to be more advernturous when I go to the market and would love to be more a more adventerous gardener.

I like the idea of globe atichokes. I've never tried them but I like most things. Do you do them from seed or is it better to buy a plant? Do you have to do much to them.

What are Tomitillos?

yumyums

I'm growing mostly the usual things - a few varieties of peppers, tomatoes, quite a few chillies. I've just sown my tomatillo seeds so hopefully they do OK as you can't get them in the shops.
Got a couple of slightly different herbs I guess - Epazote & Mexican (Long) Coriander. Trying lemongrass too.

I've got a copy of the Vegetable Expert from the 80s that describes Aubergine as only just starting to become popular so tastes do change!

Thanks for reminding me about Hamburg Parsley - want to try this one as it's also mentioned in the Veg Expert book. Looks like they didn't manage to change peoples' opinions on this one

Little_Miss_Determined

Just looked online globe artichokes are £1.50 for 50 seeds and it says they crop for 5 years. That's got to be a bargain.:D

Rummer

Oh I have never had a tomatillo, that can go on my list for next year. This is a great thread and I am looking forward to finding out what new things I can try and grow in the future!

lostinrates

Little_Miss_Determined wrote: »

Just looked online globe artichokes are £1.50 for 50 seeds and it says they crop for 5 years. That's got to be a bargain.:D

Mine cam as a plant and grew, there are five or so now. I moved it to myparents garden about 7 or eight years ago....its still cropping. I do NOTHING to it. Plant, crop, forget (but remember where it is over winter!)